7d • Vet Cases⚕️
🐕 Case Study: Why Is Ranger Bleeding From His Nose?
Meet Ranger, a 4-year-old German Shepherd who comes in from rural Texas looking exhausted. His owner reports three days of fever, lost appetite, and now a nosebleed that will not stop. There are purple spots scattered across his belly.
You notice his gums are pale and dotted with petechiae. Something is destroying his platelets.
You run a CBC. Platelet count: 28,000 per microliter. Normal is above 200,000. You check the SNAP 4Dx test. Ehrlichia positive.
This is canine monocytic ehrlichiosis, caused by Ehrlichia canis and transmitted by the brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus. The bacteria invaded Ranger’s monocytes, triggering immune-mediated platelet destruction until his blood could barely clot.
You start doxycycline immediately at 10 mg/kg twice daily for 28 days. Within 48 hours Ranger’s fever breaks and he is eager for food.
German Shepherds like Ranger are especially vulnerable to the devastating chronic form of this disease. You caught this one early.
💡 The takeaway: Thrombocytopenia plus a dog from the South equals Ehrlichia until proven otherwise.
For more information on this disease and other tick-borne diseases, head over to the classroom!
0
5 comments
🐕 Case Study: Why Is Ranger Bleeding From His Nose?
powered by
Suggested communities
Powered by